With an influx of theft happening across the County of Brant, OPP Const. Jonathan Bueckert took time out of his busy day to speak with the Brant Beacon about the possible causes for the increase in crime, as well as, how to better protect yourself and your belongings.
While he can’t physically put himself in the shoes of those committing the crimes, Bueckert said there’s likely a few reasons why there’s been over 30 theft related incidents across the County since January.
“Number one is just the cost of living, right? It’s going up and there’s some people that have been losing jobs so that can be a contribution,” he said. “On top of that, high demand items like power tools, catalytic converters, electronics and stuff like that… we’re seeing a lot of that going into organized crime to resell because obviously they’re very valuable items. We know that substance abuse is a huge issue too and so a lot of these petty thefts are often to support various habits which is a growing concern we’re seeing.”
Bueckert added that it’s not just smaller things being stolen but vehicles and work site equipment too.
“We know that there’s been a rash of theft sort of in the south end of Paris, and so what they might be doing is just scouting, right? They could be driving through there during the day and seeing what people’s patterns of behaviours are, what type of lifestyle they’re leading and what kind of cars they’re driving. That’s huge since we know that vehicle thefts are way, way up,” he said. “We’ve also had some incidents on job sites where things like water heaters, copper wiring, and stuff like that is going missing. Again, they know that the resale value is very high on those items.”
He said another big contributor, especially recently, could be the warmer weather.
“We always notice calls for service start to pick up as the weather gets nicer. People are just looking for things like unlocked cars, open garages, and unattended packages,” he said. “If it’s nice out and they don’t have a car, then sometimes they’ve got nothing better to do than walk the streets to see what’s out there,” said Bueckert. “It’s a pretty distinct pattern here… as soon as the weather gets warm, people are out and about and causing trouble, right? And that goes for impaired driving too. The weather is nice, people are drinking on a patio and they think they can drive home.”
The Constable also said that while those who are committing the crimes could be from the area, many of them are coming from out of town too.
“A lot of the criminals are coming from GTA area. They know County policing versus municipal policing is very different and they’re taking advantage of that,” he said. “They likely know how many units we have on any given day, and they’ve done their research. They know where we’re going to be and where we’re not, and they’re just going out in the middle of the night and taking the opportunity to go see what they can grab.”
Bueckert said it’s not just theft that’s an issue at the moment, but fraud as well.
“This week alone, we probably had at least two or three incidents of fraud with people hacking another person’s accounts and even Facebook Marketplace scams.”
He said to be weary about things online that may seem to be good to be true.
As far as what the public can do to protect themselves from theft, or at least, what they can do to help have the belongings returned, Bueckert said that are several tips he could suggest.
“If I had to give anybody advice? If you see something, say something; if there’s someone suspicious walking in your neighbourhood, just take note,” he said. “I know this one is getting harder because people have key fob repeaters that mimic the signal from your keys, but keep your vehicles locked as well.”
“Also, make sure your security cameras are on and running. We have a program called CamSafe where people can go on, they can register their security cameras with the program, and then, if we are conducting investigations in the area, we can see who has security cameras in that area,” added Bueckert. “It doesn’t give us access to the cameras, all it does is let us know that you’re registered with the CamSafe program and that you would be receptive to police should we require evidence.”
For those items like power tools? He said to label anything you can.
“Mark your tools with your name. You would be surprised how many times we’ve had big warrants where we’ve gotten a ton of power tools back and so having your initials or even your name etched into your tool can really help track down those items. If your name is on it, there’s a good chance we could get it back to you if it’s found,” said Bueckert. “Even if you don’t get your specific item back, we collect so much information that you may even help in someone else’s investigation along the way. We also encourage people to call and report something missing, even if it’s a petty little item because it’s not a waste of our time… we could very well use that for an investigation going forward and it helps us develop patterns with crime mapping software. All of that information is very valuable.”
For anyone who sees anything suspicious or has information on a possible crime, please contact Brant County OPP at 1-888-310-1122.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
